Top Items:
New York Times:
Bush Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes — WASHINGTON — At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda …
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker, The Daily Dish, Talking Points Memo, The Swamp, The Corner, Think Progress, The Hill, Washington Post, JURIST, Emptywheel, Salon, At-Largely, Crooks and Liars, The Gate, The Heretik, MSNBC, Comments from Left Field, Balkinization, The Carpetbagger Report, the talking dog, On Deadline, Blue Girl, Red State, Shakespeare's Sister, Prairie Weather, Brilliant at Breakfast, Buck Naked Politics, Norwegianity and Suburban Guerrilla
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White House:
Statement by the Press Secretary — The New York Times today implies that the White House has been misleading in publicly acknowledging or discussing details related to the CIA's decision to destroy interrogation tapes. — The sub-headline of the story inaccurately says that the …
Discussion:
Balkinization
Carlotta Gall / New York Times:
Picture of Secret Detentions Emerges in Pakistan
Picture of Secret Detentions Emerges in Pakistan
Discussion:
FP Passport
Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Disappeared Into Secret Pakistani and US Prisons
Disappeared Into Secret Pakistani and US Prisons
Discussion:
The Newshoggers
John Whitesides / Reuters:
Huckabee, Giuliani tied in 2008 Republican race — DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Mike Huckabee has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Rudy Giuliani in the national 2008 Republican presidential race two weeks before the first contest, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
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Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
Hard-liners for Jesus — As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party. — There's nothing new, of course, about the Christianization of the GOP.
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
For Clinton, A Matter of Fair Media — Senator's Camp Insists That the Press Holds Her To a Tougher Standard — After weeks of bad news, Hillary Clinton and her strategists hoped that winning the endorsement of Iowa's largest newspaper last weekend might produce a modest bump in their media coverage.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, TPM Election Central, Boston Globe, Suburban Guerrilla, The Heretik and CNN Political Ticker
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Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
How Many Degrees Of Separation? — Blogosphere buzz today centers on a Drudge story regarding alleged marital infidelity for a major contender in the Democratic presidential primaries. The story comes from the National Enquirer, so the reliability of the information seems rather debatable.
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National Enquirer:
NATIONAL ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL! — The woman linked to Presidential candidate John Edwards in a cheating scandal is more than six months pregnant and telling a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her unborn child, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
CNN:
Fire hits building next door to White House — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Firefighters battled thick smoke and flames Wednesday inside the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, which houses the vice president's ceremonial offices.
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Adi Ignatius / Time:
Person of the Year: Vladimir Putin — A Tsar Is Born — No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's. The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Sweetness & Light, On Deadline, The Glittering Eye, Macsmind, RealClearPolitics, Romenesko and Fausta's blog
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Richard Stengel / Time:
Choosing Order Before Freedom — In a year when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and green became the new red, white and blue; when the combat in Iraq showed signs of cooling but Baghdad's politicians showed no signs of statesmanship; when China, the rising superpower …
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
It's Edwards the Fighter in the Iowa Homestretch — OTTUMWA, Iowa — More than 150 Iowans were rustling in their chairs at a community college here the other night, waiting for John Edwards. Mr. Edwards's bus was parked and running outside the door, but it was nearly 45 minutes before he finally …
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Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Now we know why Rudy pulled back some dollars from NH — A new Granite State poll out this morning from UNH/CNN has Mitt Romney still enjoying a solid lead, but with John McCain inching up and taking command of second as Rudy Giuliani drops a bit. — The numbers: — Romney: 34 — McCain: 22
Discussion:
TPM Election Central
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Foster's Daily Democrat:
Clinton tops field among Democrats — America's next president must be a leader. — America's next president must be a healer. — America's next president must be an agent of genuine change. — When New Hampshire Democrats and nonaligned voters planning to vote in the Democratic primary …
Discussion:
The Caucus
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Rush to Judgment — One of my male colleagues was explaining why men age better than women. — “It's evolutionary,” he said. “As we wear out our wives, who are running around taking care of the kids, we know we're going to have to get another younger wife, so we stay good-looking.”
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
No. 1 Book, and It Offers Solutions — In 1967, Jack Wennberg, a young medical researcher at Johns Hopkins, moved his family to a farmhouse in northern Vermont. — Dr. Wennberg had been chosen to run a new center based at the University of Vermont that would examine medical care in the state.
USA Today:
Strategy that is making Iraq safer was snubbed for years — When Army Capt. Jeremy Gwinn's company patrolled Baghdad in 2005, the approach toward roadside bombs was simple: avoid them or die. — By early 2006, that strategy had begun to shift: Instead of hunting for the bombs, the soldiers hunted for bombmakers.
Greg Gordon / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Inside a GOP effort to rig the 2002 New Hampshire elections — WASHINGTON — A former GOP political operative who ran an illegal election-day scheme to jam the phone lines of New Hampshire Democrats during the state's tight 2002 U.S. Senate election said in a new book and an interview …
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, DownWithTyranny!, Pottersville, Rising Hegemon, Firedoglake, Prairie Weather and Cliff Schecter